The Baltic Art Festival “Volume Up” in New York (2022)
Simona Orinska – Butoh performance There She Goes My Beautiful World
From September 19–25 2022, the Latvian Centre for Performance Art (LPMC) took part in the Baltic Art Festival “Volume Up”, held at Grace Exhibition Space in New York.
As part of the festival program, LPMC director Laine Kristberga delivered a public lecture titled “Performance Art in Latvia: Challenges and Obstacles – Past and Present.”
Latvian artists presented a diverse program of performances and installations:
Laura Feldberga – interactive installation Safe Space
Simona Orinska – Butoh performance There She Goes My Beautiful World (music and sound by Arvis Kantiševs and Erik Hokanson)
Irita Tīlane-Pakalniņa – performance Blue
Arvis Kantiševs – performance Light Side of the Shadow
Performance group Animist – performance &jU£2@rrrw, concluding the evening program
The Mediated Performances Evening featured a curated film program dedicated to performance art, with works by F5 (Famous Five – Mārtiņš Ratnieks, Ervīns Broks, Ieva Rubeze), Ivars Grāvlejs, Ieva Balode, Michael Higgins, Golf Clayderman (Margrieta Griestiņa, Aksels Bruks), Artūrs Virtmanis, Daniela Vētra, Elīna Semane, and Beatrise Anda Ozoliņa.
In addition, the festival exhibited works by Latvian printmakers Paulis Liepa and Ieva Nagliņa, on view throughout the Latvian week at Grace Exhibition Space.
As art and activism often intertwine, the performance group Animist also took part in a political demonstration, protesting against climate change and the destruction of natural habitats of the indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest.
The “Volume Up” festival ran for three weeks, from September 7–26 (2022), with one week dedicated to each Baltic country. The event was curated by Non Grata / Diverse Universe (Al Paldrok, Taje Paldrok) and financially supported by the Baltic Culture Fund.
Photos: Wei Chao, Miao Jiaxin, Taje Paldrok, Laura Feldberga
